december 21, 2012

i've been judging the length of my life depending on how close i've been to this date since high school. what will i have done by then? will i still be an artist? where will i live? i'll be 27!

well here it is, and i've got to say if i die tomorrow i will honestly die a happy girl. graduated college with my BFA, still an artist, married my best friend, have an adorable dog and learned how to do lots and lots of cool shit just because i wanted to. i'd have never guessed i would have taught art in a preschool, that i'd figure out so young what i want to do in this life, even if i'm still only beginning to make it reality (everyone should read "miss rumphius" aka the lupine lady, it's so good and the sentiment is right on), or that i'd love learning so much i'd compulsively watch documentaries. high school me would be shocked but not dismayed by my life and that's a good thing. even disregarding the fact that i still have a facial piercing, i must've done something right.

i don't know about you, but tomorrow i'm wearing my absolute favorite dress, and as db and i promised each other in college... we both took the day off and we're going to party ALL DAY. only the good stuff. i don't actually think the world is going to end, but how special is tomorrow? if there's any day in particular to be truly thankful for life, tomorrow is the ONE day in our lives we should. and if we all wake up on december 22nd it really will be a new beginning won't it?

i'm going to think about all my favorite things, and here i share with you my absolute favorite place on earth. i hope you all have an awesome, awesome end of the world.

christmastime is here... again

every december this is what i look like. yes, just like a wrinkly old man squinting at his knitting. not pictured are the people around that he's surely ignoring rather than having any fun at all.

i currently have two sweaters blocking, two projects in progress and one begging to be started as soon as i can find the damn yarn to cast on with. all have got to be done by christmas, though if we all get snuffed out on the 21st i will have ruined my last christmas by knitting my fingers to bloody nubs for naught. every year is the same, when will i learn?!

pic

dirty doz: wool cape aka: the jellyfish

cape! plaid! candy colors! immediate strange nickname! what's not to love? so at long last this is the mysterious project i finished a month ago and literally didn't have a chance to document until this past weekend. first it was sandy, then it was a nor'easter and then we were gone three weekends (the only time both db my fabulous photographer and the sun are around at the same time) in a row. i'm honestly in a little bit of shock this is the 11th project i've started and completed in 2012. i just have to finish ONE more and i will have destroyed my new year's goal. kind of unbelievable.

so this was a really fast project once i got around to starting it. i banged it out in two days while watching foreign and/or 60s movies, i recommend Mademoiselle. anyways, this is a children's pattern and i made size 9/10 and still had to shorten it, people really like their kids being warm apparently. i added lots of little details not called for in the pattern which is a first, does this mean i'm getting better at sewing? hopefully. i pinked the seams and sewed them down so the inside looks nice, double seamed at the hem, topstitched on either side of the front and back center seams and put a little x at the bottom of the front opening so it won't pull. lastly and my favorite, i cut out the center hood panel on the bias so it would have a cool diagonal look instead of just being plaid gridded to death. the pattern called for toggles but as my dad can attest, i'm never going to fasten it so what's the point? i also made the hood about 1" deeper at the top because 1- i don't have a child sized head and 2- my hair tends to be enormous. just look at that hood! it's what caped dreams are made of!

it came with me to france and i wore it around paris, it was perfect. it's official, capes are fun! it even spins well, i'm not the only one that did 'the spin test' when trying on dresses as a little girl right? too bad i didn't find the perfect pattern years ago at the start of the hunt so i could've been rocking a cape all along. worth the wait though, this pattern is great and i'm totally using it again.

-details-
pattern: new look maudella 6028 (uk)
fabric: dorr woolen mills - 6811 oatmeal background w/peach & mint plaid

paris! -notre-dame-

next up on our paris adventure is our visit to Notre-Dame. it was the only thing in paris that was looked smaller than i was expecting (rather than twice as big as i was expecting). it seemed to double in size when we went inside though. these pictures i took of the inside make it look much lighter than it really was. to get an idea of how dark it was just imagine looking at the second picture below that the two vaults at the top of the picture are as dark as the two vaults that are at the bottom of the picture. it was really cool, totally ominous. it gave me a new appreciation of gothic architecture. the church is responsible for making some of the most amazing buildings and art. i guess no one can say it's good for nothing right? it was really beautiful.

and here it is, my favorite adornment on the front. rest in pieces dude, and don't drop that!